The present invention relates to a profile with a tubular or other shape section having outer pairs of grooves arranged laterally on both sides of the central body bearing the profile.
Curved arches have been known which are made from a metal or other type of profile, or are extruded in light alloy, and which are intended for covering-structures which may be partially removed between the arches and which form either a fixed single vault along the entire length of the structure, or fixed and telescopic multiple vaults for covering a swimming pool or other location. These arches generally have a section in the shape of a U, of square or rectangular tubularity, with at least two pairs of grooves arranged one above the other along the entire extension of each arch. The grooves are arranged above a single one of the faces of the part of the central body bearing the profile, and distributed, opposite each other in pairs, on both sides of the vertical axis of symmetry of the profile. In this case, the entire profile is made from a single piece.
While suitable for its intended purpose, this conventional arrangement of pairs of grooves presents a drawback because, since the walls of the latter are a fair distance from the horizontal axis of symmetry of the part of the central body bearing the profile, this arrangement does not make it possible to rapidly and easily obtain (and without costly tools) arches with an elliptical shape or a similar shape comprising more than a single radius of curvature. This is because the walls of these grooves move closer together or warp and are deformed by flexion, this occurring all the more when they are at a distance form the horizontal axis of symmetry of the part of the profile forming its central bearing body.
Notwithstanding, the above discussed problem in the prior art, there is value in having arches with an elliptical shape and in obtaining a height enabling one to stand upright, all this, close to the edges of the structure on the ground, without having too great a height in the center of the arches forming the fixed or telescopic vaults of the structure.
This drawback, on the other hand, does not occur in the case where the pairs of grooves consist of a profile which is independent of the profile forming the central bearing body.
This profile forming the grooves is stackable and is curved separately from the profile forming the central bearing body in a plurality corresponding to the number of walls of grooves required, as described in the document EP-A-0,224,290 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,861, assigned to the assignee hereof, all of the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference).
In this case, the required distance between the grooves is easily obtained and perfectly controlled. However, there is then another major drawback with the vault structure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,861. This drawback consists of the fact that it is necessary to employ an expensive assembly operation, using screws or other means, for fixing each of the independently curved profiles which form, by being stacked on one another, the walls of the pairs of grooves onto a single one of the faces of the bearing profile.
As an example, in a structure which may be applied to covering a swimming pool, each half of a pair of grooves, of a pair of arches, is opposite, supports and guides its own sheet, preferably made from a flexible plastic material which is generally transparent. Together, between the arches, the sheets close off the bearing structure formed by the arches.
Each of these sheets slides along the entire length of the extension of the arches, being deformed according to the variable radius of curvature of the arches.
The sheets may be placed on top of one another between each pair of arches at arbitrary points in the extension of the arches in order to obtain partial uncovering between each pair of arches, which uncovering may, in the case of, for example, three pairs of grooves supporting three sheets between each arch, uncover up to approximately two-thirds of the part of the structure included between each pair of arches.
Therefore, in order that each of the sliding sheets may be maneuvered satisfactorily, it is essential that the walls of the grooves which receive them have a constant and uniform spacing, are not deformed or flexion and that this spacing is also the same after the necessary bending operation which enables the arches to be formed.
An object of the present invention then is to produce arches, intended for covering-structures which are partially removable between the arches, which have the shape of a half ellipse or a similar shape comprising more than a single radius of curvature, using a profile made from a single piece. It is still another object that these arches have outer fins forming pairs of grooves, without having to assemble these fins on a bearing profile, using screws or other means. The profiles being independent of said bearing profile, and independently bending in order to form these grooves. Still another object of this invention is that the walls of these grooves do not come close to each other and do not warp on bending. All of these features and objects, must be obtained easily, rapidly and without special or expensive tools.